On the way to the materinity ward.....a minor scuffle.

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 1748

With that the two demi-foxes jump down from their chairs and the block of wood that allowed them to reach the tabletop, and then proceed to head for the door. The give wide berth to a tall, strangely clad man in a patchwork outfit of browns and greens, and for some reason wears the dark glasses of a blind person.....but acts hardly blind!

The demi-foxes start when they hear the barwench gasp and hurriedly gets out of the way of two rough looking mountain men who are reaching down to their sides for.....crossbows!

Demi-fox reflects are fast, yet the mountain men's actions are swifter yet. The draw and fire the small darts and hit.....the large strange man's chest! The man looks down at the darts hanging from his chest, and then up at the gaping mountain men.

But.....there's enough poison to down ten men instantly! their minds scream as the man crushes the crossbows.

The two would be were-fox murderers turn to turn, but then find themselves roughly caught by their tunics and slammed into the sides of the bar. They gasp and shout in pain as their back slam into the counter top. Through painglazed eyes they see that the stranger STILL is wearing those dark glasses....and his expression still is....calm and collected.

"Why did you attack them?" the man asks quietly. The demi-foxes listen in because THEY would like to know the answer to that one!

"Because their kind killed our parents," bites out one of the young mountain men. "We were about to rid the world of another monster before you interferred.....WERELOVER!"

The young man then loses consciousness blessedly as his neck snaps as his head impacts the barroom's far wall.....thirty feet away! Then....the body gives off one last shuddering breath, and dies. The room grows deadly quiet because it was obvious.....this strange man was MORE than a man.

The stranger turns back to the remaining mountain man, who is looking at the stranger with equal measures of hate and fear.

"I haven't been around here long," the man says, almost to himself. "My ship got thrown off course after the Enemy dropped their presents off. Something about some type of transport system is causing all sorts of trouble for nearby Mirrors..... Anyway, I DO happen to know that the only really murderous were-creature out there in these parts are the werewolf! These folks you tried to kill are demi-foxes.....a different species entirely, dangerous yes....but hardly in the same class as they were before their curse....and hardly your parents murderer.

"Oh, I seem to remember something," the man says with a COLD smile. "I seem to remember that there are some pockets of the old Norse religon around. And from the markings on your clothing, YOU and you friend belong!"

Faster than the eye can follow, the mountain man finds his clothing torn away from him....leaving him naked and weaponless.

"You can't get into Valhalla without a weapon in your hand," the man says, still smiling. "So....."

The mountain man takes a stumbling leap at the stranger, roaring in rage, and then goes sailing back over the bar.....with a HUGE blackened wound. A orange bolt of energy from something like a crossbow spat out the bolt that killed the mountain man.

"Say hello to Hel for me," the mana says as he tosses a bag of coins at the barkeep.

The demi-foxes blink, and then bet the heck out of there. They had been in this town long enough to know that the town guard was NOT something that they wanted to get involved with! The demi-foxes hurry to get to the were-bears laboratory.

They tell the mage what happened, and the were-bear shrugs, putting it down as just another day in this accursed town.

*********************************************************

"Now, I'm going to put you asleep for this proceedure, Astra." Synizn says. "Frankly, this proceedure is going to be difficult enough as it stands....and I don't need you squirming around because of the discomfort it causes."

The warrior princess is about to say something, but breaks out in a fit of snoring fit for an out of tune chainsaw! Several hours latter, a nervous Frederigo D'Honaire stops pacing and scampers up to the were-bear.

"Congratulations," the mage says tiredly. "You're the proud father of three boys and four girl kits!"

"Seven?!" squeeks the demi-fox. "I thought it was...."

"One was hiding under another when you felt around, apparently." the were-bear shrugs. "I already transformed Astra back and she's still asleep....."

Fred pushes the mage aside and jumps up on a stool to see.

The kits had already cleaned the kits (who looked....cute in their intermediate form.....their little hands waving as they whined and their little eyes still closed). They were muzzling the unconscious Astra, begging to be fed and held. Fred....despite the fact that he had gotten these children in a bargain he hadn't counted upon.....still felt a stirring in his heart for them!

"Fred," the were-bear murmurs....touched at the were-foxes tender look as he lifts a kit into his arms. "I need you over here to finish this business."

*******************************************************

"So, you say that in addition of regaining my form," says Fred from the stool he sat upon. "You'll strengthen this.....Matrix thingy so that I can't be as easily altered as I was....last tim?"

Fred suddenly finds himself naked on the stool. Totally human!

"Well," says the mage as he hands the knight a bathrobe. "You'll be as resistant as you were BEFORE that magical hack got to you."

Fred blinks as he hears some very human crying from the next room. He turns to the sheepishly grinning mage.

"Hey," Synizn grins. "Can I help it if I can handle several things at once with this magical item?"

The adventurers.....with seven children in tow, stand before the magical portal that the mage opened with the Crystallic. The young couple just wonder what they are going to say to their parents about all this!

"What about the payment?" yells Fred over the squalling children and the roar of the magical vortex.

"This is enough!" shouts the mage, holding up the little glass figurine. "I might be able to.....upgrade my curse to one of the newer strains!"

Fred and Astra just look and shrug at those cryptic words, step through the portal with their tame Warcharger and their children and end up....

  1. In front of Astra's castle.....
  2. In front of Fred's castle......

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5/16/1999 11:04:49 AM

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